AEFF Buzzing with its Current Projects

Thanks to support from our donors AEFF has been able to continue using the digital editing suite at AEFFs HQ in the Tsavo National Park.

As soon as it has been shot, AEFF footage is logged into the operating computer for editing and a back up copy on an independent hard drive.

Then, using updated specialized logging software, we use a much more detailed process, involving cross-referencing and extreme levels of detail to log all the 750 hours of footage in the AEFF library. Finally the footage is copied using LTO tapes, which have a thirty-year life, as against hard drives that only have a three-year guaranteed life. All this makes the AEFF library (probably one of the most comprehensive environmental/wildlife film and sound libraries on the continent) more accessible to all future generations of AEFF editors, who will be able to draw on this extensive resource when assembling new educational films in the future.

AEFF’s current series of films include a second marine film as a follow up to KURUWITU: BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE. This new film shows how this first film spawned an extension to the original area and in fact 16 new areas have opted for sound marine management. AEFF can claim to have played an important part in spreading the word along the coastal communities.

In addition AEFF’s film THE ICONS OF TSAVO, is complete. This film has two parts. Part One shows the huge Tsavo elephants, with tusks sweeping the ground, and how dependent they, and the many emerging tuskers, are on the whole elephant society. Part Two shows the life of a bow and arrow poacher and how, when questioned by a young Kenyan, the reality of what he has done over the years is revealed. For him it is too late, the damage has been done, but the young Kenyan now has the responsibility to influence modern Kenyan society in acknowledging the importance of these elephants and the role wildlife has to play in the future.

AEFF’s film The Standard Gauge Railway is in production. AEFF was given permission to film this huge project by the Kenya Railway Corporation This film has a much broader message than just the construction of a railway by emphasizing how development need not damage the environment irrevocably. Industrialization will bring a better standard of living for many Kenyans but, in this modern age, all projects should be carried out with an understanding of how to minimize the impact it inevitably has on the environment. And higher incomes will mean more Kenyans will be able to visit the wildlife areas and appreciate wild animals for what they are.